Alberta’s Nedohin beats both Manitoba teams

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/02/2012 (5150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RED DEER, Alta. — First they beat Team Manitoba. Then they beat Team Manitoba West.

Alberta’s Heather Nedohin — who needed a win on the final round-robin draw last Thursday just to get into the playoffs — got hot when it counted most and completed a remarkable three-game playoff sweep here Sunday afternoon with a 7-6 victory over BC’s Kelly Scott in the final of the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

“I’m so proud of my team. I thought our composure was outstanding,” said Nedohin, who had a crowd of 5,900 at the Enmax Centrium fully behind her all afternoon. “In the playoffs, we held our composure. We took the energy from the crowd and we just kept going with it.”

With the victory, Edmonton’s Nedohin and her foursome — lead Laine Peters, second Jessica Mair and third Beth Iskiw — will now represent Canada at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Lethbridge, March 17-25.

And the teams Alberta left behind in their wake will now be left to wonder what went so wrong. Nedohin advanced to the final with a 6-5 extra end semifinal victory over Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones on Saturday night, only to face a couple more Manitoba curlers — Winnipeg’s Scott and Ashern’s Sasha Carter, the BC third — in the final.

Scott and, in particular, Carter, had been sensational in recent games, carrying an unheralded BC team into the final. But when it mattered most, Carter was outshot 93-69 in the final by Iskiw in what proved to be the only matchup that mattered.

Carter, who’d spent part of Wednesday in the hospital with a nasty stomach bug only to return and play some of the best curling of her two-time Canadian champion career, wasn’t making any excuses for herself or her team in the final.

“I just never got a feel for draw weight. And I think we were just all over-thinking things,” said Carter. “I won’t use the cliche that we were just on the wrong side of the inch. We were more than the wrong side of the inch. It was a few inches that we were off today.”

The Alberta win was not entirely without a Winnipeg connection. Nedohin is married to Winnipeg’s David Nedohin, the longtime vice-skip on Randy Ferbey’s three-time world champion Edmonton foursome.

After the game, Dave Nedohin described watching a team that sounded a bit like his own juggernaut in their glory days. “They played completely fearless,” said Nedohin. “It was really hard watching but they made all the shots. They were the best team here this week. Nothing fazed them. Nothing. It didn’t matter what anybody threw at them.”

In addition to winning the right to represent Canada at the Worlds, the Nedohin foursome also picks up some other significant prizes: $144,000 in tax-free Sport Canada funding over two years, $40,000 in training money from the Own The Podium program, $10,000 in sponsor cresting money and berths into next season’s Canada Cup and Continental Cup.

The game ultimately turned on two shots. Trailing Alberta 2-1 in the fourth end, Scott was attempting an easy hit and stick for a single point with the final rock of the end when her stone picked up some debris at the hogline and swung sideways, handing Alberta a second consecutive steal and a 3-1 lead.

BC tied the game with a deuce in the fifth end, but the relief was short-lived as a poorly played end by BC in the sixth end ultimately concluded with Nedohin needing nothing more than an easy tapback for what proved to be a decisive three-ender.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca